[mikentosh]

One thing about the Ridetech rear setup I didn't like was how bulky the axle brackets are; I think this is mainly due to it being a bolt-on kit. Since we don't have that restriction, we took some time to fab up our own bracket assembly utilizing the Ridetech arms and panhard bar.

I had the 12-bolt rear rebuilt locally in San Jose. We went with a 3.42 gearset and a Tru-trac limited slip unit, and the whole assembly was powdercoated to match the chassis.

At this point I bolted up the first of a few different rear disc brake kits I've moved through. The setup pictured is from Little Shop Mfg, and is a super nice kit! It includes everything needed to convert a 12-bolt over to discs, comes with lines, and everything is nicely powdercoated. The kit uses the small diameter 79-85 Cadillac rear calipers (which include e-brake). Unfortunately I had too much contact with the 15x10 wheel setup I want to run on this truck.

After a LOT of trial and error, I found that front discs from a 90's era Astro van have the correct bolt pattern and enough offset to put the caliper away from the contact points in the rim. Amazingly enough I came across Captainfab's post in the vendor marketplace where he sells brackets that work with the astro rotors. Unfortunately this needs the 76-78 Caddy large diameter calipers, so I had to find a set of those too. Even with this setup I still needed to do a small amount of grinding on the caliper face AND run a 1/16" spacer for clearance, but all is well now.